Alive!

I went there at 9pm the other night and they close at 10 but the server was like, «how about something quick?» We said «we probably won’t be quick» but she sat us down anyway.
The food wasn’t amazing, but then again most raw food I’ve found is not really amazing. I had some kind of salad with mushrooms; it wasn’t very flavourful with the exception of the mushroom pieces. I had a bite of my boyfriend’s dish, which was a burger with an extremely tiny patty. The patty wasn’t that good. I thought that the serving sizes were small considering the price that the dishes were.

This place will take your vegan wallet to the cleaners.
Seriously-​is it legal to charge $ 21 for a SMALL pile of peeled vegetables, $ 13 for a thimble of sake, and $ 14 for a tiny sprouted burger thing that nearly broke my knife? With service that doesn’t exist (I could have planted a garden and picked my own veg by the time I got a menu) and a 20% gratuity included (which you will forget about and tip on top of) I’d rather chew on a carrot stick and save myself $ 80.00-This place is a no-​no go.

Very cute, very small and cozy place.
Make sure to make reservations otherwise you won’t get a table (b/​c the place is very small).
All wine is organic and food is really good. I had the zucchini pasta thing with spicy red curry and it was really really good!
Appetizer (flatbread with pesto, tomato, basil) was very good and refreshing as well.
I would go there again and try other things on their menu. Next time i want to try their dessert as well (we were just too full for desert last time).
If i can cook like this all the time, i would have no problem being a vegan. My experience was there was fine.

My vegan friends wanted to try this raw restaurant in the Marina called Alive and while I was a bit skeptical, I figured it would be a good opportunity to see what all the fuss was about. Sadly, this bogus, Disney theme song playing «eatery» was a HUGE mistake.
For starters, we couldn’t even get the door open because it was locked, even though they were open. Another customer actually let us into the restaurant. After sitting down and looking at the paper menu taped to a wooden roofing slat, I was shocked to see the obnoxiously expensive prices for completely uncooked food (rice is $ 6/​bowl!) masquerading as delicious dishes they certainly were not. For instance, I ordered the pesto sunflower seed «burger» with Shiitake mushrooms. At $ 14, it was the cheapest entrée on the short menu. My friends ordered things like the sunflower seed «burger» with avocado, some kind of «torte», and the red curry «ribbons». The dishes took about 45 minutes to actually prepare and the bungling waitress couldn’t short out the simple dishes we ordered nor could she figure out what table they went to (there were only two tables) nor could she sort out how the hell her fancy PDA ticket book device worked, but that’s beside the point. All of the food looked and tasted exactly the same. It lacked flavor and any real texture, and was a total disaster as far as I’m concerned. The least failed part of the dinner was the carrot cake dessert, but even that was made from the otherwise discarded bits of a juiced carrot. Honestly, I can’t stand this stuff.
I can honestly say that this raw lifestyle thing is not for me. Sticking a feather in the ass end of a sunflower seed (which end is the ass end??) does not make it a chicken. We ended up spending over $ 100 for a totally craptastic meal and I felt totally jipped so I went and got myself a proper burger at Absinthe later that night. That’s the difference between a poseur and a proper restaurant. I’m never going back and am loathe to see it close its doors for good.
Food: ²⁄₁₀
Service: ¹⁄₁₀
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: ²⁄₁₀

This was my first raw restaurant experience, and boy was it disappointing. I was trying to stay positive but Alive made it really hard.
The service:
— Door was locked when we tried to get in. Another customer had to open it for us. We should have taken that as a sign to stay far far away.
— They were blaring songs from Les Mis and Disney movies to the point where our conversation would be interrupted whenever Colette or Ariel hit a high note. At first it was funny, but it got old real quick.
— Our server was just plain confused. I got better service from the guy in the back who told me where the bathroom was.
The food:
I got a mushroom, pumpkin and avocado torte which sounds great on paper. But it’s always so disappointing when you’re expecting a «torte» (or «burger,» or what have you) and end up getting a messy side salad on some beige tasteless puck. Just call it a salad! I am fine with eating a salad, I really am (but then, who would pay $ 23 for it?). I thought a raw restaurant would put more emphasis on getting quality produce… but sadly, nothing had any flavor. It was so depressing. All the dishes pretty much looked and tasted the same. They put tomatoes and kale on everything, for some reason.
The food didn’t make me puke or anything… but it SO was not worth the money.
p. s. $ 6 for rice/​quinoa?!? wth?

Not bad. I had two of their dishes when I was here: their raviloi and their avocado burger. Considering it’s all uncooked (raw) and vegan, it was actually kind of tasty. One complaint, their «burger patty» was really tough. It not only used an uncomfortable amount time to cut, but it required a lot of effort on my part to chew.
Honestly, I don’t know how much cold, raw, vegetables I could have of the same thing before I’m a bit bored or even a bit chilly, but comfort doesn’t come to mind when I think of a salad; HOT, COOKED soup does. Definitely a place to try for fun even if you’re not vegan as they have some innovative substitutions for what would be considered «normal» dishes and interesting flavors.

Alive was quite Dead when I walked in the door. I thought, ok so, we’ll get good service. Boy was I wrong. The place started to fill quickly; it was Sunday around 5:30pm.
The service was so bad it was almost laughable. I wondered if they were growing the food back there. Given that there is no «cooking time» involved this is always so baffling to me. The staff seemed nice but they seemed clueless, perhaps they were missing there main servers? Maybe they were just trained like yesterday. It was that kind of service. The table next to us ordered a soup and the lady literally placed it in front of 3 people before she got it to the right person on the table. Someone on that table asked for a spoon, a reasonable dining request, the server lady was like, «A spoon? What for?» …Um, for eating soup?
My friend and I ordered two cold soups. I had the avocado bisque; it was good but nothing special. She had the carrot ginger; she said it was a lot of the same not so exiting soup. We then ordered a vegan raw sushi thing… was good. We wanted to order more but the staff made a point to avoid eye contact at all cost. It’s not that big of place. I think there were 4 people working the place however, only one lady really attending to all the tables. I ordered chocolate, coconut and banana dessert. I was good, but not so great, it was filling but not really that flavorful.
I won’t be back. What I tried was not so amazing. I love healthy and tasty food but this was sub par food and the service was super bad.
I can’t tolerate both sub-​par food and horrible service in the same place.

OK, so I’m a break it down and this is coming from someone who eats a lot of vegan, raw fancy schmancy foods.
The basics:
*Location — parking can be tough, but close to lots of shops and other restaurants nearby.
*The restaurant itself is tiny (6 tables inside) however, there is an outside eating area with heat lamps.
*Live entertainment — there was a woman playing the Zheng (I probably butchered the name) which really added to the Asian feel of the place.
*Food — the soups are absolutely delightful as well as flavorful. You must get the curry split pea soup.
For the entrée I got the Pesto Vegetable Ribbons with Vegan Meatballs which was executed very well and the flavor was subtle but satisfying. For someone who is not accustomed to this style of cuisine it might be a bit of a shock however, I am confident that someone with a sophisticated will enjoy it.
Lastly, you cannot leave there with out trying a dessert and I recommend anything with chocolate, mmm.
Yes its pricey, but you will leave there feeling full and healthy!

I came here with Alyssa G. because she had a coupon for a free appetizer with the purchase of one (or two?) entrée (s).
I had heard a bunch of really amazing things about this place and a few horrible things, so I really didn’t know what to expect. The space itself is tiny; it would be very easy to walk right past it. Small places can often be great date places, but Alive! is so small that you’re likely to be too close to the people at the next table to feel comfortable getting all sappy with your snookems.
The food itself is delicious. I don’t know how they make it, and I almost don’t want to know, but I was blown away by the sunflower-​seed burger, which isn’t really a traditional burger in that there’s no bun. OK, there’s a kind of bun, but it’s not bread. Wow, the food is really difficult to describe. The portions aren’t large, but they’re filling for some reason. I think it has to do with density, but the food isn’t heavy.
It’s a little bit pricey for the amount of food you get, but it’s also worth it every once in a while. My main qualms with the place are how cramped it is and its lack of wheelchair accessibility. There’s a step from the street, and even if there were a ramp, I don’t know whether a wheelchair user would be able to dine at one of the tables.

I like raw cuisine, really, I do. I love it in fact. I’ve even gone raw for 6 months of my life. But restaurants like this do not help. The flavors of their dishes are just overpowering without any real flavor beyond the sensation of uncooked onion or too much agave. I much prefer Café Gratitude to this restaurant. It’s reminiscent of the first generation of raw cookbooks that relied heavily on agave, salt, and maple syrup. But it’s all somehow appropriate for the pretentious neighborhood where it’s located.
To be fair, as others have said, the presentation is top notch, so if your sinuses are clogged or your taste buds were damaged in an industrial accident, dig in.
My real favorite for bay area raw food is the now defunct Café La Vie in Santa Cruz, but alas…

I’ll give Alive one thing. I walked out feeling full but not uncomfortable. I am biased because I just don’t get the whole raw vegan thing because I realize I like to enjoy food. I think the whole «raw organic foods renewing mother earth» and «cooked foods are dead foods» is all bull sh*t.
Anyways, my friend was in town and wanted to try this place. The place was tiny with only about a half dozen or so tables. I kind of liked the atmosphere because it was clean and simple but comfortable. The food however all looked and tasted the same even though we ordered different things. I got thePesto Sunflower Seed Burger with Shiitake Mushrooms and my other two friends both got the Shiitake Mushroom Sun-​dried Tomato Torte with Thyme-​Parsley Walnut Pesto. The burger wasn’t exactly a burger. The cheese was sunflower cheese. I am not sure if I was eating real bread. The «burger» patty was so hard it was a workout just to cut it up. Shitake mushrooms were a plus. For dessert we got the pomegranate berry cheesecake. It wasn’t bad for not having dairy but no way near as good as a real slice of deliciously bad-​for-​you creamy cheesecake.
Glad I gave it a try but I’m sticking to my meat burgers.

My friend, Christine, and I had been planning on going to this restaurant for some time and we finally had the chance to try out tonight! Neither of us had been to a raw foods restaurant before so we were curious to try it out. It is an extremely tiny restaurant but very nice inside. The atmosphere is very calm with fancy light fixtures and artwork hanging on the walls. The server was really nice and very knowledgeable about the menu and how each of the items were prepared.
We ordered:
–Potato Leek Soup with Black Miso (cooked) — $ 10
–Curry Split Pea Soup (cooked) — $ 10
–Pesto Sunflower Seed Burger with Shiitake Mushrooms (raw) — $ 12
–Thyme-​Parsley Walnut Pesto Ravioli with Shiitake Mushrooms (raw) — $ 16
–Lavender Pomegranate Cheesecake topped with a berry sauce — $ 8
–Chocolate Coconut Banana Torte topped with a chocolate sauce — $ 8
(everything served at the restaurant is Vegan)
I posted pictures of all the items we ordered!
I thought that the soups were really tasty and they were great for a cold day which it was. The raw entrees were alright but my friend and i were not jumping out of our seats for them. Since it was our first time at a raw restaurant we have to get used to the idea that everything is not served hot. The desserts were amazing though! I agree with a lot of other reviews that it is worth going to alive for the desserts by themselves. It was definitely an experience and i’m glad that i can say i have been to a raw foods restaurant now.

I really enjoy raw prepared foods more than salads because a lot of thought and care goes into creating a unique reimagination of a cooked favorite. I may be an omnivore, but I’m also a foodie that appreciates complexity… even if the raw food stand doesn’t include raw meat (hmm… steak tartare!). I enjoyed my sampling from the food stand at the Ferry Building. Not everything is a home run here, but some of the flavor combinations make you go «Wow!» since we often don’t appreciate all those raw veggie flavors together at once.
Pumpkin Lasagna: A full forkful of all the layers will bring you to a point of complexity you’ve never tasted with traditional pasta-​based lasagna! The topping is shiitake mushroom covered in an amazingly fresh tasting sun dried tomato paste sprinkled with kale, blackish red pepper, green tomatoes and red tomatoes. The main component is a pumpkin paste which contains carrot, celery and red cabbage separated from the top by thin zucchini slices. The bottom part is really cool. Not sure what nuts, beans and grains are in it, but it is hearty and adds that needed substantive texture. The was some cauliflower near the bottom too, which I mostly avoided due to the bitterness.
Falafel & Hummus Sandwich: The sandwich base is very seedy, like savory granola. The hummus was standard hummus, which works well to compass the celery, carrots and cabbage. The «falafel» bits mixed in the hummus were kind of dry and chewy, but did have an awesome flavor. Everything on top of the sandwich base worked well in harmony.

I wish that I could give this a 2.5, b/​c 3 seems a little excited, while 2 stars seems like a total dog. I should probably explain that I’m the type of person who is predisposed to like this sort of thing – lots of veggies presented nicely, and I’m down, so I was surprised that it’s not a higher rating. I’d seen Alive at my farmer’s markets but never taken the plunge, and I have to say, I’m now not really regretting that decision.
I went with a friend early on a Saturday night (okay, it was tonight and yes, I’m already Unilocaling about it) – and we were 2 of 4 people in the tiny place – it’s right on Lombard, not exactly scenic, but in an odd way, it was nice to sit at the window and keep tabs on the movement around us. Décor is dark – small wood tables, large woven, wooly art on the walls – it’s kind of cute… kind of… but mostly it’s just cramped. I was glad there weren’t more people there, b/​c I got the feeling it would have felt a little overly personal if we had had to sit next to anyone else.
On to the food: I started w/​the miso, mushroom, and yam soup, which came out piping hot (major plus), and was a decent size (although it was $ 10, and it was about $ 7 worth of soup), and it was actually quite nice. I can’t say that the flavor combo was wonderful together, but I liked all the ingredients separately, so it was an overall yum experience. My companion went for the curried split pea which was also quite toasty upon arrival, but very bland. I’m not a curry person so I held off on trying it until she assured me that it was not curry-​y at all… and she was correct… it was just like split pea… but not flavorful. We asked for salt and pepper, which made a mild improvement.
Oh, both of these were hot, so real raw foodies shouldn’t get too excited.
For din we split the sushi appetizer ($ 10) and the zucchini ribbons ($ 13). The sushi was pretty sub-​par, and by pretty sub-​par I mean gross. I’m addicted to veggie sushi and this rendition was not something I would want to put in my body again. The seaweed overpowered everything (and I love seaweed), and the sunflower paste that went in there was totally off mark in terms of texture and flavor. That said, if you could ignore these 2 elements, the cabbage and avocado in there as well were nice.
The highlight of the meal was our «Garlic Miso Seasonal Vegetable Ribbons with Seasonal Vegetables & Pinenuts» which was really like a large salad, but really nice and garlicy. Actually, I think that the garlic taste from din will be permanently stuck in my mouth – it was a reasonably large portion, and the contrast of the greens, crunchy veggies, sprouts, and pine nuts came together wonderfully. If I have to come back again, this dish is the ticket.
Our waiter trying to be on it… but was a bit too overeager to have something to do (like I said, the place was empty), so he ended up clearing things as soon as we had finished our last bites. He also told us his favorite dishes were the two we liked least, so I just think we were on different wavelengths.
Overall, if you are a raw foodie and have appx $ 65 (incl 20% tip) to spend on a meal for 2 (no alcohol, but 2 cups of $ 3 tea), then sure, why not head to Alive, but I feel certain that there are better raw places out there in this fine city to be had.

One word; Amazing!
Went here last night on a date and I was soo excited to finally come here. I have been to the kiosks at Embarcadero’s Farmers Market so I knew the food would be amazing.
This place is extremely small. Awesome décor though. I made a reservation and thought it was supper cute to come in and see a «reserved» sign waiting at out table. I had the pesto veggie ribbons with «meatballs». Very good the flavor kicked my ass! A bit tooo pesto-​y for me and wasn’t able to finish it all but still good non the less. My man-​friend had the sun-​dried tomato torte and he said it was very good. Their fruit smoothies were bomb also!
We ended our dinner and shared some blueberry pie. The texture was just perfect and their was some coconut in the cream — I’m not a huge fan of coconut but the flavor was light and so delicious. I would come by for the pie itself.
All in all, amazing restaurant and great service. And validated parking is always good ;)

I came in here for lunch as I’ve been craving healthy vegetable-​y foods lately, especially since I’ve detoxed recently. The words «raw vegan» used to scare me in the past but then I just realized that they are vegetable/​fruit based dishes prepared in completely creative ways and who is gonna ridicule someone for wanting to eat more vegetables?
I ordered the «alfredo pasta» which was zucchini «noodles» (just shredded zucchini in the same width as fettucine noodles) in a cashew based «cream» sauce with other vegetables thrown in such as onions, multicolored cauliflower, raddichio and carrots. While not even close to traditional fettucine alfredo by any means (honestly, it should’ve been called salad), it was delicious in its own right. It was a refreshing and very tasty salad and I thought it was filling.

Alive was a pleasant find. We just got off from a run and were looking for a place to eat. Our SF friend told us to meet at a Philly cheese steak place around the corner from Alive. Well we had a little trouble parking in the neighborhood. On our way to meet our friend we passed by Alive and were kind of interested in trying it out. After totally dismissing the cheese steak plan we convinced him to go to Alive.
I got a yam soup and the raviolis. The soup was good but lacked a kick so it was average. The raviolis were excellent! I couldn’t believe how satisfying my meal was. I’m not sure if my husband or friend had the same effect. My husband got the sun-​dried tomatoes and hummus and our friend got the vegan meatballs (which was like a coleslaw). I tried their food and thought their food tasted good too.
It was expensive so not sure the pocketbook would have me come again but definitely a place to try out at least once.

It’s Alive! Because my friend is a vegetarian, that basically makes me a vegetarian. Or so I thought. Alive is a very cute place. I had a divine Pesto Sunflower Seed Burger (considering it was made of soy, hopefully?) with Shiitake Mushrooms preceded by Apple Walnut Fennel Salad. Raw food is great, soups looked delicious. I went for the salad instead.
This is a truly Vegan place, as they do not even offer fish. While scanning through the menu deciding what to order, I could count 6 main ingredients in most of the dishes:
— Mushrooms
— Avocado
— Sunflower or Flax Seeds
— Rice
— Nuts
— Soy (hopefully that’s what the Meatballs and Burgers are made with)
Rather poor choice, considering the number of non-​carnivore flora out there in the world. Menu seemed very limited, especially for the asking price.
Organic wine, in my view, could taste better. Even though I cannot understand how wine can be organic these days… Pests are everywhere. Those wineries must be losing such a great amount of grapes due to not using insecticides. Oh my, probably that’s why it’s $ 34 a bottle.
I really respect Alive’s attempt at providing healthy food to the masses. However, after eating here, as much as I LOVE mushrooms and avocado, I’ve realized there is nothing in this world like a juicy steak!

I dig raw food. Like really dig, straight up pull carrots from the ground and eat them dirt and all dig. I’m just saying. I’m vegan so I’m partial to these places, but I’ve been scoping out Alive for over a year now and it BLEW MY MIND. Wow. I was so high I could barely drive back to Berkeley that night. Like fresh feel good all over my body loves me high.
It was a cold Tuesday night outside and the restaurant was barren, but the super cute owner with his” im like 40 with hipster glasses” was actually preparing the food. The service was awesome. I asked a bunch of questions about how each dish was made, since I try and cook raw myself and the waitress answered every one. She was actually passionate about the dishes. We sat in the front window and ordered raw sushi for an appetizer. Then sun-​dried tomato pâté and burger for the big meal. I was super stuffed.
A lot of raw food places feel nutty — since they blend a lot of almonds, Brazil nuts, and walnuts into everything. This didn’t feel that way at all. There were tons of spices so it balanced out the nuts and lots of sprouts, cashew butter, and purple cauliflower. For desert was raw cacao cake. BOOM.
I’ve had the lasagna at the Ferry Building stand, which is fresh and the food is prepared on the spot. Try it all and feel good all over. This is the future…

You really gotta slow your roll up in this place.
It’s the most quiet joint I’ve ever walked into for food.
Although I’m a vegetarian, I’m really not into the raw thing. But with that said, I did enjoy the food here. Yes, It’s different. I mean, would I rather drink regular milk (or even soy milk) over Alive’s almond milk? Hell yes.
I do think there are better vegan options in the city (ummmm, Herbivore gets an honorable mention). As far as raw food goes though, I’m new to the scene so I couldn’t say.
I’m between 3 and 4 stars, so maybe it’s worth it to give Alive another shot.